αὐτόματος

Forms

αὐτόμᾰτος (autómatos) m (feminine αὐτομᾰ́τη, neuter αὐτόμᾰτον); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek αὐτο- (auto-, “self”) + -ματος (-matos), whose second member is the zero grade of the root of μέμονα (mémona) and μένος (ménos), from Proto-Hellenic *mətós, Proto-Indo-European *mn̥tós, from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”).^[2][1][3] The second member matches the second element of Latin commentus (“devised”) and the Sanskrit and Lithuanian participles meaning “thought”.^[2][3] So the word first meant “acting by one's own thought or will”.^[2][4] Cunliffe, for Homer, called the second element obscure.^[5]

Aristotle explained it as αὐτός (autós) plus μάτην (mátēn, “in vain”): what happens of itself and to no purpose.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is used of a person who comes unbidden, of his own accord, and of things that move by themselves: the gates of Olympus that open on their own and the tripods of Hephaestus that run by themselves.^[7][5][4]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod uses it of diseases that come of themselves and of the earth that bears fruit without tilling, and Herodotus of plants growing wild and of a river rising naturally.^[7][8] In Classical prose it also means natural, as of a natural death in Demosthenes, or accidental, without visible cause.^[7][8] The phrase ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτομάτου “of itself, by chance” is common from Herodotus on, and the neuter τὸ αὐτόματον became the name of chance as a cause, which Aristotle discusses in the Physics.^[8][7][6] Aristotle and Hero of Alexandria use the neuter plural for self-moving puppets and machines.^[7] The New Testament uses it of a prison gate that opened by itself and of plants growing without help.^[4]

English automaton comes from the neuter, through Latin, from the 1610s, and automatic (1812) is formed from the adjective.^[9] Babiniotis traces the modern European words to French automate and automatique.^[10] Modern Greek αυτόματος (aftómatos) is a learned word.^[11][12]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of a man who comes of his own accord and of the self-moving gates of Olympus.^[7][5]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of diseases that come of themselves.^[7][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of plants growing wild and of things happening by chance.^[7][8]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes speaks of a natural death, and Aristotle uses the neuter plural for puppets and discusses chance as a cause.^[7][6]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of a gate that opened by itself and of plants growing without help.^[4]
• 1610s – English borrows automaton, through Latin, for a self-acting machine.^[9]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek αυτόματος (aftómatos) means automatic.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of persons and animals) Acting of one's own will, of one's own accord, unbidden.^[7][8]
2. (of things) Moving or acting by itself, self-acting.^[7][8][5]
3. (of natural events) Happening of itself, in the natural course; growing wild.^[7][8]
4. Natural, not caused from outside, as of a death.^[7][8]
5. Happening by chance, accidental.^[7][8]

Noun

1. (neuter, τὸ αὐτόματον) Chance, accident; ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτομάτου “of itself, by chance”.^[7][8]
2. (neuter plural) Puppets, automata.^[7]

Related words

• μαίνομαι (maínomai)
• μέμονα (mémona)
• μένος (ménos)
• μιμνήσκω (mimnḗskō)
• μνάομαι (mnáomai)
• αὐτός (autós)
• English automaton
• English automatic

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b c d Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
5. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b c Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr